About the work
A dramma lirico in three acts by Riccardo Zandonai to a libretto by Massimo Spiritini and Carlo Zangarini, based on Louis Bouilhet's verse epic "Melænis" (1857). It was first performed on 13 November 1912 at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan, conducted by Ettore Panizza, with Claudia Muzio in the title role.
Plot
In Rome in the year 188 AD, the orator Marzio falls hopelessly in love with the courtesan Melenis, but becomes a gladiator, and after a victory in the arena asks the emperor for the hand of the patrician Marcella. When the despairing Melenis sees the couple's wedding procession, she takes her own life with her hairpin.
Cultural significance
Although the premiere, with a notable cast, was well received, Melenis remained only sporadically staged after 1913 and is considered Zandonai's least-performed opera; the score's complex harmonic language struck contemporary audiences as forbidding.